At the present time, the modernization and improvement of the reliability of metering systems are a major focus of research and development in all industrialized countries.
In particular, an essential objective of the corresponding work relates to the implementation of new services directly linked to metering and, by extension, to energy savings.
Moreover, the main objective of the aforementioned new services is to reduce the work required on subscribing customers' premises, thanks to the implementation of centralized management and operation of each flow meter.
In France, for example, the distribution of a flow such as electricity alone involves some 34 million metering points.
Moreover, a related objective of a centralized management and operation of this type is the rationalization and generalization of antifraud tools, themselves controlled in a centralized manner, in order to reduce to a strict minimum the physical work required on each metering point, whereby the number of types of physical work can thus be reduced to a single type, the pure and simple changing of the metering elements alone.
The most complex flow meters, those notably implemented for metering the distribution of electricity, are electronic meters comprising all or some of the following units:                voltage sensor, current sensor, cut-off unit, metrological pre-processing circuits, processing, supply, display, telecommunications interface, keypad or push buttons, external sensor interface.        
In particular, the communications interfaces are connected to the public switched telephone network, PSTN, the optical fiber network, the radio network, the powerline communications network (PLC) or other network, according to the availability of these networks.
In the domain of electricity metering, two families of meters exist: industrial meters, in which the physical variables of voltage and current are measured with the aid of sensors external to the meters, and domestic meters where the corresponding sensors are located inside the meter, the electrical current consumed by the subscribing customer passing in totality through the meter.
In the case of domestic meters, with a subscribed three-phase power in France below 36 kVA, the constraints of heating are consequently greater. In fact, the input of the cable via the electrical distribution network, upstream of the meter, and the output of the cable to the custom installation, downstream of the meter, are directly connected to the circuits of the meter.
Screw terminal blocks guarantee mechanical stability and electrical continuity.
A derived version of the domestic meter has more recently appeared, in the form of a plug-in meter.
This type of meter comprises two parts: a base integrating all of the connections to the power cables and the communications links, and a meter part equipped with specific power and communications interfaces to be connected to the base by means of a power plug. The aforementioned part has all the other units of the meter, i.e. the sensors, the energy calculation component, the display, etc. A meter of this type is shown in FIG. 1a. 
The plug-in meter allows the meter part to be changed without work being carried out on the network cables and the customer cables.
However, all of the electricity measured by the meter part passes through the latter, as in the case of the conventional electronic meter.
The functions performed by the meter part of the plug-in meter are shown in FIG. 1b. 
Although plug-in meters enable a standardization of the distribution points of the electrical flow thanks to the implementation of a single type of base, enabling significant gains in terms of maintenance and logistics and avoiding the frequent handling of the cables while minimizing the risks of heating, the base being installed once and for all, the plug-in part is, however, the source of real disadvantages.
A first disadvantage is to be found in the dimensioning of the terminals of the plug-in part, which must be capable of forwarding the maximum power subscribed by the subscribing customer. The routing of electrical current intensities which can reach 90 A imposes the implementation of a contact system in the base allowing the plugs of the meter to be gripped sufficiently. The tighter this grip, the greater the mechanical action, i.e. wear through friction, of the manual insertion or removal of the plugs. This constraint imposes a ruggedized mechanical design, notably in the case of the three-phase meter in which the number of power inputs and outputs is doubled. The aforementioned mechanical specifications for the plugs are costly and prohibit the installation of this type of meter on the boards of existing meters which are not adapted for this purpose.
A second disadvantage is safety-related. The ECEBI plug-in meter used in France must be fitted with a device to detect and inhibit an unplugging of the meter part by an unauthorized third party, as the risks of electrocution are significant. This function is currently performed by a simple sealed screw.
In France, experience has shown that the main cause of failure of conventional electronic meters and plug-in meters is the malfunction of the electronic components. In 80% of cases, the components, notably those of the supply, the display and protection components are involved.
Finally the patent application US 2004/070 517 describes an electronic meter for electricity in which a subdivision of the circuits between the power circuits and the circuits likely to be changed is proposed. However, all of the latter are integrated into a single housing.